Lamat

L A M A T
A slidestory by Noel Tio

To my sunshines, Ayiz and Nico.
All graphics and texts were rendered using MS Powerpoint shapes, except for a
few images which were stolen sourced from this thing called the internet.

It’s been
all smiles
for Dom and
Jay.

They just had one hell of a double-
date with the cutest girls in
school--Claire and Rachel.
They hung out at the mall and caught
the latest superhero flick.
Jay got to French-kiss Claire during
the trailers. Dom was happy just to
be able to hold Rachel’s hand. After
the movie, the foursome grabbed some
French fries and cheap soft-serve
ice cream.

When it was time to head home, Jay
and Dom—being gentlemen– accompanied
the girls to the jeepney terminal.
As they said their goodbyes, Rachel
made a suggestion.

“Our block is having a party.
Why don’t you guys come with
us?”
Dom quickly agreed…
…but Jay hesitated.
“I have to be home by 7,”
Jay said to Dom.

“All right, but we have to be home by 7.
I’ll just text my mother that I’ll
be a little late.”
Dom excused themselves from the girls and pulled Jay to
the side of the jeepney. “Come on, bai. Don’t mess this
up for me. You got to kiss Claire inside the movie
house. I only got to hold Rachel’s hand. Let’s go to
their place ‘coz I just might get her to kiss me
there.”
Jay resisted but Dom was very persistent. In the end,
Jay relented.
After agreeing to the compromise, the
boys entered the jeepney and took
their seats beside the girls.

Dom got Jay to fish out a P50 bill from
his pocket and handed it to the driver.
“It’s on us,” Dom said. The girls
giggled as they said their thanks to the
boys.
After about half an hour, the giddy
group alighted at the corner of the road
that led to the girls’ homes. Claire and
Rachel lived in a housing subdivision
four kilometers from the main road. They
approached a tricycle that was waiting
under the shade of a Mabolo tree.

“Kuya, we’re going to
Pleasant Homes,” Rachel
said to the driver.
“That’s too far, inday,”
Both Rachel and Claire had to haggle
and plead with the tricycle driver,
offering to pay more just so they can
get home.

P100
P100
Wanting to impress the
girls, Dom and Jay went
to their rescue. The
boys dug deep into their
wallets and produced a
crisp P100 bill.
The tricycle driver
quickly swiped the cash.

“Hop on. But I’ll only take you as far as
the gate. I’m not going inside Pleasant
Homes. That place gives me the creeps,”
the driver said.
The boys helped the girls inside. Claire
and Rachel took the two best seats inside
the cabin of the tricycle. With only one
seat left inside, Dom and Jay had to flip
for it. Jay won the flip but Dom beat
him to the extension seat before he
realized he’d won. So Jay sat at the back
of the driver.

Jay could hear Dom put the
works on the girls, trying his
hardest to make them laugh. The
girls, being polite, forced
half-hearted giggles to Dom’s
corniness.
Dom asked the girls, “How far
away are your houses from the
gate?”
“Just a couple of blocks,” Jay
heard Claire answer.
“Cool, you want us to carry you
piggyback?” Dom asked as he
flexed his muscles in front of
the girls. “We don’t want those
pretty legs to get tired.”

In between giggles, Rachel said, “Oh,
both of you have been such gentlemen. No
need for you guys to exert the extra
effort. We want your muscles to stay as
tender as possible.”
Hearing Rachel say “tender” made Jay
wonder what she meant. It sounded weird.
But he then heard Dom spew out another
corny pick up line and quickly abandoned
the thought. He then heard the driver
utter something.

“Sorry, I didn’t
hear you clearly,”
Jay said.
“I said: are you really going inside the
subdivision?” the driver said.
“Of course.”
“Aren’t you boys scared of the place?”
Jay paused to think. It never once occurred to
him that the girls’ place was scary, having
never visited their place before.

“We can take care of ourselves, kuya.
We’ve survived our fair share of run-ins
with gangs and muggers.”
“That’s not the kind of scary I’m
referring to.”
“What are you talking about?”
No answer.

Jay again felt strange so he diverted his
attention to Dom and the girls. Dom let
his mouth run non-stop until the tricycle
came to a full stop.
Jay looked around and realized just how
far off they were from the main road. The
area certainly looked remote with no
neighboring houses surrounding the girls’
subdivision.

As Dom helped the girls disembark from the tricycle, Jay
approached the driver. He suddenly thought of a
predicament--their return ride.
“Kuya,” Jay said, “I haven’t seen other tricycles pass
by.”
The driver just gave him a smirk.
“Can you wait for us? We shouldn’t be long. About an
hour, maybe—“
The driver didn’t even wait for Jay to finish. He gunned
the accelerator to signal his disinterest. But Jay held
on to him before he could leave.
“Wait; we’ll pay you. 50 now and 50 when we get back.”
Again, all it took to convince the driver was the sight
of money. And like earlier, he quickly swiped the cash
dangled in front of him.

“Fine; but if you’re not here
after an hour then I’m gone.”
“Thanks,” Jay managed to say. All the while,
Dom and the girls were already making their way
inside the gate of the subdivision. Jay had to
run to catch up with the group.
“What’s taking you so long?” Dom asked. Jay
explained that he had to request the driver to
wait for them. Dom didn’t seem to care too much
about their return ride.

Jay, in contrast, started to see what the
driver meant. Like outside the
subdivision, not one house was in sight.
The foursome crossed several blocks of
shrubs, weeds and grass overgrowth. This
gave the boys the impression that the
subdivision was empty and uninhabited.
But on the far end of the street, Dom and
Jay finally saw houses.

“We’re almost there,” said
the girls.
They were met with silence when they reached the
first few houses of the block. Not a soul bustled
about outside the homes. It made the vibe creepier
for Jay but he decided to not dwell too much on it.
Dom was completely oblivious to the unnerving
quietness of the place. In fact, he was completely
overcome with excitement at having arrived at the
girls’ place.

As they passed by one particular
house, Jay decided to take a peek
through one of the open windows.
What he saw weirded him out even
more—everyone was asleep.

It was the same for the next few houses.
He grabbed Claire by the arm and said…

“Everyone’s asleep.”
“And?”

Claire answered with a wry smile, her nonchalance
hinting that this was nothing out of the ordinary
in their place. Claire gazed at Jay’s eyes,
smiled and turned away to catch up with Rachel.
Jay stopped walking. He stared at the gate and
estimated how far they were from it. He wanted to
turn back.

“Jay, hurry up. No time to
waste.” Dom was waving his
hand, gesturing for Jay to
catch up. He took a deep
breath and decided to
uphold his wingman duties
to Dom.
“You better get to second
base, Dom,” he said under
his breath. He gathered his
feet and ran towards Dom
and the girls.

A few more steps and
they finally arrived at
the home of Rachel.
“Welcome to our home,”
she said as she opened
the door.

But this time, Jay’s
hand just meekly grazed
Dom’s, which he didn’t
seem to mind that much.
Inside the house, the
boys were struggling to
adjust their eyes to the
darkness. Not only was
the place quiet with
sleeping neighbors, it
was dark too. All the
windows were boarded
shut.
“Brownout?”

“Nope,” Rachel
answered, “we like
it this way.

Jay’s phone beeped.
He retrieved it from
his pocket and said
after reading the
message, “Listen
guys, I hate to do
this but I have to
hurry back home. My
mother just texted
me and there’s been
an emergency.”

“What the--- What kind of
emergency?” Dom asked.
My sister’s sick. She’s in the
hospital now. I really have to
go.”
Jay quickly marched outside of the house. Dom
was left inside, torn between staying with the
girls or following his distraught friend home.

“Please don’t go,” the girls
implored. They incessantly
pleaded for them to stay, but,
in the end, Dom chose to
follow Jay.
“Sorry girls. Jay has an
emergency,” Dom said as he
left Rachel’s house, trying
to avoid the disappointed
looks of the girls. He
quickly ran to Jay.

“Ataya bai, this was
the moment I was
waiting for. Damn the
timing,” Dom said,
ruing the missed
opportunity.
“What happened to your
sister anyway?”

“Nothing.”
“What?”
“My sister’s fine. There’s
no emergency.”

“Then why did you just
cockblock the best
chance I had to score
with Rachel?” Dom
demanded to know. He
checked the text message
Jay received. Sure
enough, there was no
emergency. The text was
not from his mother but
from the network he
subscribes. Apparently,
Jay has not been paying
his phone bills.

“It felt really weird there. You didn’t notice
because you were too busy trying to impress
Rachel,” Jay said in between Dom’s curses.
The two boys argued, shouted and cursed one
another as they navigated their way back to
the waiting tricycle. But instead of arriving
at the gate, where their return ride waited,
they found themselves back at Rachel’s house.

“Let’s go the other way,” Jay suggested.
“See, Jay, our feet are bringing us back
here. Fate brought us back here,” Dom
said, pleading.
“You stay if you want,” Jay said, annoyed
with Dom’s incessant whining. So Dom shut
up and followed Jay.
“You owe me, Jay.”
“You’ll thank me later, Dom.” After a few
moments of silence, Dom held up his fist
to show he had no hard feelings.

The boys walked in silence but their
serenity was jolted with the sight of
Rachel’s house, yet again. This time,
there were people outside—the neighbors
were now out and about. And all their eyes
were fixed on the two oncoming boys.

“I’m sure we took the correct street this
time,” Jay said.
“Yeah, we must have missed a turn,” Dom
replied.
“But we didn’t take any turns on our way here.
The path we took was straight.”
“I can’t remember, bai. I was talking to Rachel
the whole time.”
“Why is everyone staring at us?”
“’dunno. Rachel and Claire must have told them
about us.”
“Let’s take the other street,” Jay said. Dom
shrugged and followed suit.

The boys quickened their pace as they
tried to beat the setting sun. They
followed the same route they took when
they first got to the girls’ housing
subdivision. They passed by the same
shrubs, the same weeds and the same
grass overgrowth.

But instead of seeing the gate that led
to the outside world, they saw the same
row of houses from earlier. More people
were now outside. Jay quickly realized
that something was amiss while Dom
remained completely oblivious.
stay…
stay…
stay…
stay…
stay…
stay…
stay…
stay…
stay…

“Look, Jay, they’re calling us. Let’s stay and
join the party”
“Let’s go. It will be dark soon.”
Dom would not listen. He made up his mind and
decided he’d had enough of Jay’s nonsense. He
was staying.
“Don’t do it, bai.”
“Jay, what’s wrong with you? You’re getting all
weird over nothing.”
“Don’t you see?”
“See what?”
“Listen, it might not make sense now but you’ll
just have to trust me on this. We have to leave-
- Now!”

Jay held up his fist, waiting for Dom
to make a trust-based decision on a
situation he didn’t fully comprehend.
His fist hung in the air
as Dom deliberated
whether he should follow
his impulse or whether
he should stand by his
best friend. Behind them
the sun was setting
fast.

And so the boys were off, this time
with a little more sense of urgency.
They ran as fast as they could in the
hope of getting to the gate before the
sun fully sunk in the horizon.

“Thanks for trusting me, bai.”
Dom shrugged and said, “I figured you were
always the smarter one, that’s why.”
“And better looking too.”
“Stop dicking off. Your haircut’s awful.”

Their leg muscles tightened and their lungs
burned, but they pushed themselves harder.
After a few more steps they began to notice
things getting very familiar. They were back
again at the girls’ homes.
“Ataya, this is hopeless,” Jay said, stopping
to crouch to put his hands on his knees.
“There’s some strange magic shit going on
here.”

“You know you’re absolutely right. I get
it now. It’s the Lamat,” Dom said.
“The what?”
“Lamat--like what you said, a magic-
spell. That’s why we keep coming back
here.”
“Don’t make stuff up.”
“I’m not. My lola used to tell me aswang
stories when I was a kid. She said that
they’d use the Lamat on their prey all
the time. That’s how they get to eat
their victims.”

Dom paused and a with a curios look
continued, “So that means we’re--“
“Guests of honor? Highly doubt it,”
Jay said.
“No bai, we’re this party’s dinner,”
Dom asserted.

“I was thinking along the lines of
gang rape and torture. But getting
eaten is just as bad. So what did
your Lola say about how to reverse
this hex?” Jay asked Dom.
Before Dom could answer a crowd of
people began to approach the boys’
general direction. Ahead of the pack
were Claire and Rachel.

“Please don’t go,” the girls begged.
Their eyes shone brighter but the
features of their faces were somehow
muted. “Please don’t go,” they repeated
until everyone else echoed the plea.

Jay and Dom made a run for it. They
didn’t even care which street to take.
They just wanted to get as far away from
the houses as they could. Then Dom
remembered something, stopped and
snapped his fingers.

“We have to wear our clothes
backwards and inside out,”
Dom said.
“Are you serious?” Jay asked, who took off his
shirt but remained suspicious.
“Yes; I mean, come on. What have we got to
lose?”
“You better not be punking me, Dom. Underwear?”
Dom nodded.
“You have got to be kidding,” Jay protested but
proceeded to take off his pants anyway.

Just when their pants dropped down on their
ankles, the boys heard a faint screeching
sound. So Dom grabbed his unbuttoned trousers
by the waistband with his right hand and Jay
with the left and ran like crazy. With his
ankles entangled by his pants, Jay lost his
footing and fell.
“Why are we running? I thought we were going
to wear our clothes in reverse?” Jay asked
while wiping the dirt from his body.
“Get up, bai;.hurry. We can do that while
running.”

“What’s wrong this time?”
“They’re coming for us.”
“They’re coming for us?” Jay repeated mockingly.
“Yes; can’t you hear that sound?”
“What sound?” Jay
wondered. Dom didn’t
answer to give way for
Jay to train his ears
on whatever it was they
were listening for.
And there it was.

“Big deal,” Jay said. “Those are just
birds squeaking.”
“That’s no bird, bai; that’s them. And
they’re getting nearer.”
“Those birds sound like they’re miles
away.”
“Exactly. They’re
getting nearer.
No time to
explain, bai.
Just trust me on
this.” Dom held
up his fist.

And so the boys were off again. This time they
were multitasking--taking off their clothes
and wearing them in reverse wrong-side out
while running. The boys doubled their pace as
the squeaking sounds grew fainter. They were
still nowhere near the gate of the subdivision
and the sun had fully set. Their hearts sank
when they saw the row of houses once again.
“We’re back again, bai. Look,” Dom said.
“The sounds seem to be getting louder,” Jay
noticed. And indeed it was. But it wasn’t the
squeaking-bird sounds. It was a putt-putting
sound of a motorcycle engine.

“The driver’s come back for us,” Jay
said, delight and relief showing in his
facial expression. But that feeling of
relief was fleeting because they could
not find the source of the sound.

“Where is he?” Dom wondered. “I can hear
the engine but I can’t see the tricycle.”
So the boys began shouting, “Kuya”, to get
the attention of the tricycle driver.
“Is this one of their tricks, Dom?”
“I don’t know, bai. But I’m sure the
tricycle is around here somewhere.”
Then the bird-squeaking sounds started to
fade once again.
“They’re getting nearer, Jay. We have to
move fast.”

“Look, there’s something burning in the
distance,” Jay pointed to a small bonfire burning
a hundred meters or so from them. The boys ran to
the direction of fire and finally heard the voice
of the tricycle driver.

“Listen to me,” the disembodied voice said. “You
can’t see me because of the Lamat. The only thing
that is not affected by the Lamat is fire. I
burned some gasoline by the gate. Get to that
fire, now.”
The boys hurried as the squeaking sounds got
fainter by the second. They clearly heard the
engine of the tricycle revving yet it was
completely invisible to their eyes.
“Hey Kuya, why can’t we just ride with you?
You’re just beside us, right?” Dom asked.
“Because you have to reverse the Lamat first.
Hurry and get to the gate. They’re getting
closer. I can barely hear them anymore,” the
driver said.

“Isn’t that supposed to mean they’re far away?”
Jay asked.
“The closer they get to you the more quiet they
sound. That’s how they trick their victims,
Jay.”
The boys finally reached the burning flame.
Then, out of nowhere, something suddenly held
them back, pulling them away from the fire.

The boys struggled to free themselves from the grasp of
the phantom hands. Just as they thought all was lost, a
huge ball of fire erupted by their side. The sudden
explosion surprised whatever it was that was holding the
boys. Now free from the clutches of the unseen forces,
they scrambled to get behind the fire.
“Kuya, you there?” Jay shouted.
“Right behind you. Don’t get too far from the fire. They
can’t touch you if you stay close to it.”

“How did you make that fire a while ago?” Dom
wondered.
“Gasoline. You owe me a full tank,” the driver
said.
“Oh, we’ll give you more than that. Just get us
out of here,” Jay said.
“First, make sure you have all your clothes worn
in reverse,” the driver instructed. The boys put
on their shirts inside-out backwards.
“Check,” they said.
“Next, walk backwards, slowly, but don’t turn
your head and look back. In a few steps you’ll
have your backs up the gate. Once you do, slowly
slide to the exit.”

The boys did as they were told. Once they
had their backs by the gate they felt
their way around and finally managed to
wiggle out of it. And then they were free
from the Lamat. They now clearly saw the
gate which stood in between them and the
subdivision, unlike just a few moments ago
where front was back and back was front
(or side). They also finally saw the
tricycle driver beside them. Both boys
thanked the driver non-stop for coming
after them. They raised a fist to their
new hero.

“Kuya, we owe you our lives,” Dom said.
“And a full-tank of gas,” the driver added.
“Thanks for coming back,” Jay said.
“Wait, you’re not one of them, are you?” The
thought scared Dom but he had to ask anyway.
“Don’t insult me, boy. This bottle of oil would
be boiling if I were one of them.” The driver
showed a brown bottle to the boys. “That’s how I
knew those girls were trouble,” the driver
continued, “this was boiling the whole time when
I brought you here earlier.”
“I don’t get it.” Jay said.
“This oil is blessed by a mananambal. It boils in
their presence,” the driver said.

“That doesn’t sound very scientific.”
“Nothing has been scientific ever since we got
here, Jay,” Dom said. “Try explaining why we
kept coming back to that god-awful place.”
“So what do we do now?” Dom asked the driver.

“We walk backwards all the
way to the main road.”
“Why can’t we use your
tricycle?” Dom wanted to know.
“I used up all my gasoline to make a
giant fireball to ward off those
things, remember?” the driver said.
“And I’m not leaving my tricycle here.
We’ll pull it as we walk backwards.”

“I’d happily pull it while you sit in
it. At least we’re not some party’s
dinner anymore,” Jay said. Dom agreed
and both went to work pulling the
tricycle with the driver.

Lamat

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